The Santa Clause Fanfic

Prologue

Merry Calvin is the eldest daughter of Scott Calvin, CEO of a huge toy company. Aside from Merry, there was her little brother Charlie. Ever since their parents divorce, things have been rather complicated especially at this time of year. You guessed it, Christmas is around the corner, which means Merry and Charlie have to spend the holidays with their dad. Sadly, Scott wasn't much of a father since he always worked and barely spent time with any of his kids despite the visitation rights claiming that his 16-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son can visit him. The siblings weren't looking forward to it, but Merry had to be strong for her little brother's sake. You see, Charlie was a bright and cheerful kid until Scott and Laura divorced. Since then, he wasn't as happy and barely smiled. This wounded Merry's heart, which made her promise to do everything she can to make Charlie happy, especially around Christmas.

Merry and Charlie were dropped off at Scott's house, grabbing their things from Laura's car before entering. The eldest daughter looked down at her little brother, kneeling down to match his height with a small smile. "What's wrong, kiddo?" she asked, "Not looking forward to spending Christmas with dad?"
"Not really" said Charlie, looking down at his shoes, "Do we really have to spend Christmas with dad? I'd rather spend it with mom and Neil"
"Well, we didn't really spend Christmas with him last year. So, it can't be that bad"
Charlie pouts and continues to look down at his feet. Merry gently took his hands and smiled, "tell you what, how about we make some gingerbread cookies and make cocoa like we used to while dad's gone? Maybe watch your favorite Christmas movie?"
"Really?" asked Charlie, "You promise?"
"I promise"

Charlie smiled and hugged his sister before running to the kitchen with Merry following behind. The baking process was messy but fun for the two siblings, thankfully they cleaned up and eventually sat on the couch drinking cocoa while watching A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV. The sound of the door opening was heard, which means their father was back from work. "Dad's home!" said Charlie, placing his mug down before running to the front door. "Charlie, slow down!" said Merry, following her brother until the sight of their parents bickering with one another. Charlie stood silently in the corner, listening to them with a pained look on his innocent face. Merry followed her brother's gaze, listening to Scott using whatever excuse he could come up with to reason with Laura. The eldest daughter knew very well her father was late due to "traffic" since the I-95 was clear as the news said earlier today and everyone was at home this Christmas Eve. Thankfully, she kept it to herself so as to not upset her 8-year-old brother. But what really made Merry mad was what Neil told Charlie, saying there was no such thing as Santa. Of course, she had that talk with her parents before, but that didn't stop her from believing in him or ruining the spirit of Christmas within her heart. After Laura leaves, Scott looks through a book of recipes to make a quick Christmas dinner for him and the kids, surprised to see a turkey has to be cooked for at least 4 hours in the oven.

Sadly, the Christmas dinner didn't go as planned and the turkey was practically charcoal. To be honest, Merry knew that was gonna happen eventually since her dad barely stepped foot into the kitchen unless it's for a cup of joe. The three eventually went to a Denny's, which turned out to be a bit chaotic since a group of Japanese men were there. Even a couple of parents were at Denny's after their own Christmas Eve Dinner disasters. Charlie didn't seem all that happy, even when his dad and sister tried to cheer him up. But then Merry noticed something odd. For a moment, it looked like one of the children leaving the dinner had pointy ears. She tilts her head curiously until the boy with pointy ears notices and smirks, signaling her to keep quiet with his gloved finger and a wink. "Sweetheart?" asked the waitress, snapping Merry back to reality, "You gonna order something?"
"Oh, sorry" said Merry, slightly flustered, "I'll take a coffee, please"
The waitress nods and writes down the order before stepping away. There was a painful awkward silence before Scott forced a smile and said, "This is nice"